“The Wars of the Roses,” by Alison Weir, and “If He Hollers Let Him Go,” Chester Himes.

What’s the last great book you read?

“Hope,” by Bill Reynolds, the sports columnist of The Providence Journal and one of the best pure writers in America. It’s about high school basketball in Providence, R.I.

What classic novel did you recently read for the first time?

It’s embarrassing, but I just read “The Brothers Karamazov.” I also just reread “War and Peace,” which I try to do about every five years; it’s a different book every time. Same with “Huckleberry Finn.”

Whom do you consider the best crime writers working today? And among classic writers of the genre?

Among the classic writers? I never stop learning from Raymond Chandler and Mr. Elmore Leonard. (The half-hour I spent with him on the phone shortly before he passed were 30 of the best minutes of my life.) John MacDonald, Ross Macdonald, James Crumley, Charles Willeford, Chester Himes, Robert B. Parker. Those guys turned crime writing into music.

What’s the most interesting thing you learned from a book recently?

It was from a book called “How to Read Water,” by Tristan Gooley, and it was a section that made an effort to classify breaking waves into three general “families” — “spilling,” “plunging” and “surging” — and then gave their determining characteristics. I have occasion to study waves quite a bit, so it was fascinating. Reading water is something of a survival issue, so I can never learn enough.

What moves you most in a work of literature?

The writing itself. I’m always moved by beautiful writing, by someone who catches the music and the poetry of a moment. It doesn’t really matter to me what the subject is, or even what happens, just that it’s beautifully done.

Which genres do you especially enjoy reading? And which do you avoid?

I’m pretty eclectic. I love crime fiction, of course, but after that it’s history. As for avoiding a genre, I’m not much on self-help books. But I feel about books the same way I feel about music — I like what’s good. I love jazz, for instance, but there’s nothing more horrific than bad jazz. I’ll listen to good country, good hip-hop, whatever. The same with books.

How do you like to read? Paper or electronic? One book at a time or simultaneously? Morning or night?

Paper, definitely. I have to hold that book, although I actually prefer paperbacks to hardcovers, maybe from the time when I couldn’t afford the latter. I read several books at a time; they’re scattered around the house like coffee cups, and I read them depending on where I am. I usually read at night because most of my daytime reading is work-related research. The exception is Sunday, when I make it a rule to do nothing but read for pleasure. My wife and I do a four- to six-mile hike, and then I come home, sit outside and read until it’s dark. It’s the best.

How do you organize your books?

By subject. So, nonfiction by subject and then chronologically — American prehistory, Colonial history, Civil War, etc. — then fiction chronologically by country of origin. So its starts with the Greek tragedies, moves up to the Romans, you get the idea. Then British fiction, French, Russian, then American — Hawthorne and Melville up to Jim Harrison, Richard Ford and Richard Russo. Then there’s a natural history section, a travel section, then books about jazz musicians. I recently rented a little building near us to put up more shelves. It drives me crazy when I can’t find a book.

What book might people be surprised to find on your shelves?

Because I’m a crime writer, people are usually surprised to see a large collection of Native American history books on my shelves. It’s a real passion of mine. My wife and I drive across country every year, and she is very gracious and patient about stopping at these historical sites and at my having a stack of these books in the car.

What’s the best book you’ve received as a gift?

My friend Shane Salerno gave me Robert Redford’s “The Outlaw Trail,” which is sort of a modern guidebook to the travels of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The sad thing is that I’ve been to a lot of those places, and I intend to go to the rest.

Who is your favorite fictional hero or heroine? Your favorite antihero or villain?

Tough one, there are so many. I guess I’d have to go with Jim Harrison’s Brown Dog. I actually slowed down as I was getting toward the end of the volume of novellas because I just wanted to spend more time with that guy. Same with Richard Russo’s Sully. As for a villain, it has to be Blue Duck from McMurtry’s “Lonesome Dove.” Then again, there’s always Sherlock Holmes’s nemesis, Moriarty.

What kind of reader were you as a child? Which childhood books and authors stick with you most?

I was stuck on biographies as a kid — Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, Sam Houston. Then there was a series of “you were there” books from Landmark, featuring kids who were “there” at the Johnstown flood or the Battle of Gettysburg, that sort of thing. I went from those to Shakespeare — “Julius Caesar,” “Macbeth” and the histories. Then my dad turned me on to Robert Ruark, Leon Uris and James Michener.

If you could require the president to read one book, what would it be?

Assuming facts not in evidence, I’d have him read Douglas Southall Freeman’s biography of Washington.

You’re organizing a literary dinner party. Which three writers, dead or alive, do you invite?

Shakespeare (“All kidding aside, you wrote those plays, right?”), Raymond Chandler (“Would you mind reading just one paragraph of ‘The Long Goodbye’ out loud, sir?”), and George Eliot (“How did you do it?”)

Disappointing, overrated, just not good: What book did you feel you were supposed to like, and didn’t? Do you remember the last book you put down without finishing?

“As I Lay Dying.” I’ve tried and tried and tried; I’ll try again. The last book I put down without finishing — I hate to say this, because I think he’s one of the most underrated American writers — was James Jones’s “Some Came Running.” Let’s just say I haven’t finished it yet.

Of the books you’ve written, which is your favorite or the most personally meaningful to you?

It’s always the one I’m currently working on. You should be in love with the woman you’re dancing with.

Whom would you want to write your life story?

No one, really. It sounds awful. But in the spirit of things, I’d ask the naval historian James D. Hornfischer.

How do you decide what to read next? Is it reviews, word of mouth, books by friends, books for research? Does it depend on mood or do you plot in advance?

All of the above. I do scan reviews to see what’s out, and friends do tell me what they’ve been reading. But when I think about it, I guess I mostly do that old-fashioned thing of prowling bookstore shelves and just picking up what looks good. There’s nothing better than that, is there?

What do you plan to read next?

“Since We Fell,” by Dennis Lehane, and the manuscript for the new Adrian McKinty stand-alone.

An expanded version of this interview is available at nytimes.com/books.